It is one thing to celebrate one’s birthday with parties, balloons, presents, and gifts presented by loved ones.

But what about the loved ones with no voice?

The Earth doesn’t have a voice that we can hear with our physical senses. To me, it’s something that I feel, and I usually feel this union in my heart. Whenever I look up at the sky when it’s thunder storming, whenever I look at the ocean, or when I’m in the woods listening to the wildlife around me… I don’t necessarily hear a voice, but I feel a deep thrum in the pit of my belly. Sometimes I hear an invisible song that brings me deep joy and peace. From this deep gratitude that I feel, I wish to give back on the anniversary of my birth.

I have been named strange more times than I can count in the 3 decades I’ve been alive. And this is something that I am completely okay with. I actively choose not to participate in the gift giving habit this year, and I am hoping that those who know me well enough to want to gift me a present will do the same. As many know, I care deeply about the Earth, and the astonishing atrocities that are being committed now are things that would leave me in tears for hours if I slowed down enough to process all of it. Instead, I do what I can, pick up trash when on hikes, have vowed to take shorter showers, and have helped with recycling programs/dig through trash both at home and at work to help clean/support Mother Earth. This year, I don’t want my birthday to be just about me – I want it to be a celebration of life in general. Honoring the Earth and being in gratitude for the air we breathe, the water we drink, and the food we eat are simple pleasures many take for granted.

The Standing Rock movement was something that helped enlighten a lot of people to the dependency that we have on oil, and we have marinated again and again in spiritual awakenings. More people are becoming aware that the way we are living now is not sustainable. For example, the Dakota Access Pipeline that was promised not to leak began leaking even before it was complete, and now has leaked twice after being officially “open”. I, of course, encourage you to do your own research and fact check. There are plenty of articles available on this subject matter.

But this brings out the point that we can’t focus all of our energy into what is not working. We can, however, focus on things that are working. There is an epidemic of trash for many reasons such as human nature (read laziness), privileged people and the overflowing landfills all across the world. Humans are constantly consuming and creating more refuse that is affecting our wildlife. One of the biggest results is the accumulation of “Garbage Patches”, where there is a concentration of trash due to debris falling off ships, or careless tourists that end up forgetting their trash on the beach and it washes away. Plastics comprise about 80-90% of this. There’s an interesting thing about some plastics – that they never really “degrade”. They actually just break down into smaller and smaller pieces, hence causing mass deaths. Thankfully, a lot of awareness has been brought up in this regard, and there are many efforts to try and clean our oceans of plastics, as well as to help create happier environments for our marine life.

This year for my birthday, I want to be able to support causes that I know where the money won’t go into corporate hands and actually make a difference in this world. This bracelet really spoke to me, because this bracelet is made from 100% recycled material. The beads are recycled from glass bottles, and the thread is recycled from plastic bottles/bags. This company named 4Ocean is putting out there that for every purchase of a bracelet, one (1) lb. of trash is cleaned from the ocean. You can watch this video for a brief introduction to it.

This really spoke to me and my heart, because I’ve been a big fan of the ocean for a long time. Whenever I hike, I make sure to bring a garbage bag with me so I can pick up the litter. I also find that somehow getting a memento from others picking up the trash and being able to do something with it, is like a reflection and friendly reminder of the times I’ve already done it. And it gives me hope when I see my son doing the same, and helping me pick up the trash on his own, instead of me having to ask. I hope that this trend of good stewardship for the planet keeps picking up, and I wish to invest my energy into something that means a lot to me. And if you were thinking of giving me a present, please consider donating to this instead, and sending me a nice message saying that you got a bracelet and helped pick up one (1) lb. of trash from the ocean. And even if you weren’t and happened to stumble across this post – then please, to help fulfill my birthday wish, consider donating money to this wonderful cause.

As an added bonus, if you do happen to get a bracelet and send me an email, I’ll be more than happy to send you a blessing over the phone to activate your recycled bracelet. It will be a short diagnostic journey and then a personalized blessing. If you are not familiar with Shamanic Journeying, here is your chance to test out the results of it! If anything, you get a bracelet which helped clean up a pound of trash from the ocean. I would love more stuff like this to be a thing of inspiration, so many people can see what harm is being done to the world around us. And may this short little blessing be enough to help reverse what harm has been done, in what little way it can.

Every effort of the heart matters. When something moves you in the heart, please do something great or small that is a reflection of how you are moved in this world. And performing a blessing into that bracelet for you is the least I can do.

My birthday is coming up on June 8th 🙂 Please send me some emails! The blessing promotion will continue for the whole month of June.